Iran's Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA), the body that issues transit permits for the Strait of Hormuz, warned on Tuesday 27 October that "legal action will be taken against all vessels" of the South Korean shipowner Sinokor (Sinokor Merchant Marine) from Sunday 1 November1. Maritime Executive called it the first time the PGSA had singled out one company2.
Sinokor ships carried nearly 40% of the crude that left the strait in September, Bloomberg reported3. The Korea Shipowners' Association said the ships Iran listed were not owned by Sinokor but had been sub-chartered to an overseas oil company, with no South Korean crew. It said Sinokor was unaware of the warning and was checking the details4.
Until now the PGSA listed individual ships. Sinokor ships were on an August list of 45 tankers5; the PGSA's online list now shows about 125 vessels, Maritime Executive reported6. The PGSA says "appropriate enforcement actions have been taken against at least 7 of them" without saying what, and addresses its warning to "all cargo owners, stakeholders, and insurance service providers"7.
A notice that names a company, not a hull, cannot be shed by selling or reflagging one ship. The association's account, that the listed ships are chartered rather than owned, leaves insurers to decide whose vessel the notice covers. The notice lands on a freight market that set a record in September: hiring a supertanker to carry Saudi crude to China passed $1.2 million a day in the week to 25 September.
